CIGARETTE SMUGGLNG FOILED

MOZAMBICAN police foiled an attempt to smuggle 180 cartons containing over 36__000 packets of contraband cigarettes into South Africa from Maputo on the weekend. Police found the boxes of Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes hidden in the roof panels of a passenger train bound for Johannesburg from Maputo. They immediately arrested three suspected smugglers and two other Mozambican stowaways who appeared to be trying to sneak into South Africa by hiding inside the ceiling panels. Mozambican police said on Monday that the cigarettes had been manufactured in South Africa and exported to Mozambique before a criminal syndicate tried to smuggle them back across the border. Cigarette exports from South Africa enjoy significant fiscal benefits and tax perks and can therefore be sold far cheaper on the black-market if they are smuggled back into the country.